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Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (Beta Test) by FFG

So, apparently, WoTC/Hasbro has surrendered the RPG license for Star Wars to Fantasy Flight Games. The new RPG is now in an open Beta test and copies were sent out to game stores this past week. Looks like FFG is sold out online, so the best bet is to call around your local game stores and see if they have any.

I've been playing and GM'ing Star Wars since back in '87 with WEG. I have a lot of fond memories of the WEG system, and D20/Saga was kind of a letdown for me. So, I have mixed feelings about this new game. However, after reading through the copy I managed to snag, some of my fears are alieviated.

-Multi-dice system similar to Warhammer Fantasy, with symbols rather than numbers. The beta book came with a sticker sheet to convert various dice and there's a handy table that's clearly marked if you want to use conventional dice before the specialized ones come out. There's also an iOS/Android dice roller app for $5 in the stores.

-There's going to be three 'core' books, Edge of the Empire being the first and focusing on the fringe characters of Star Wars, set in the classic Rebellion era. The next book will focus on Rebellion characters and the third book will focus on Jedi and the Force.

-There's a limited amount of Force ability detailed for character creation, appropriate for the Rebellion era. There's no system for making full Jedi or Jedi in training yet. Think of it as the start of 'Star Wars Galaxies', where players have to muddle through to discover and develop Force abilities; there's no training or mentors yet.

-Talent Tree system where you spend XP to get Talents related to your Career that can boost your dice rolls or remove hindrances to your rolls.

-'Destiny Pool' where the players roll at the start of each session to determine how many and what kind of Force Points are in the pool. Players use Light-side points, GM uses Dark Side Points. When a point is used, it flips Sides, so after a player uses a Light Side point, it becomes a GM-usable Dark-Side point and vice-versa. An interesting system for building towards a heroic climax by enduring the bad stuff the GM tosses at you.

-An 'Obligation' system where all characters start with some kind of Obligation, be it a debt to a Crime Lord, a Wookie Life Debt, or the responsibility of providing support for your family. The more Obligation the players take on as a group, the greater the chance that someone's Obligation will come up in a session, causing stress for all the PC's.

-PC groups start off with a ship, but with very little in the way of extra funds unless you want to take on more Obligation. PC's start with 500 credits and a good blaster pistol costs 500 by itself.

So, initial opinion: promising. I approve of starting off with the Classic Rebellion Era setting and severely limiting Jedi and Force powers right off the bat. Similar to the WEG approach, Force use and Jedi are supposed to be rare and something special, and the new game really makes you work at being a Force User, rather than a simple level system. The focus of the game is obviously in the new 'narrative' style of game design philosophy, creating mechanics to bring drama and role-playing to the forefront rather than pure dice rolling. The layout of the book is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, with only a few hiccups (it took me a while to find out where starting cash for PC's is). A good mix of PC alien species (Bothan, Gand, Rodian, Trandoshan, Twi'lek, and Wookie), along with the option to play a Droid PC. The dice mechanics are fairly straightforward, with attribute and skill dice providing successes and advantages and opposing dice creating canceling failures and hindrances.

All in all, I'm looking forward to what FFG has in store and revitalizing my old Star Wars games.

Is the Star Wars Property the new Star Trek? One company after another?

AISI it is more playable as a concept. The construction of ST doesn't lend it to get multi player table top. SW is a good F2F game.

Not really. Remember that WEG had a good near decade with Star Wars before bad finances for WEG and printing non-approved material caused Lucasarts to end production. And WotC had about a 10 year run as well. What happened with Star Trek really isn't an issue with the source material, either; and rather similar to the Star Wars RPG saga.

FASA had a long run with the original Trek RPG, close to a decade. The problem came when The Next Generation came out. FASA printed sourcebooks for TNG without securing the separate license for TNG from Paramount. Also, the TNG stuff wasn't well received by the player base. So, Paramount pulled the plug.

Years later, enter Last Unicorn Games. After Gene Roddenberry's death, a new stipulation to Trek licensing was that each product had to have the approval of Majel Barret-Roddenberry. There were lots of companies trying to get the Trek RPG license, but Last Unicorn was the only company that went in personally and demonstrated the game to the Paramount execs and to Majel. That's how they got the contract. Unfortunately, only a few years after LUG Trek went into production, WotC bought LUG and Paramount pulled the license.

The final iteration of the Trek RPG came from Decipher, who at the time was making the Trek CCG, so they already had a good partnership with Paramount. However, Decipher was much better at making card games than RPG's. Also, this was about the time that the bottom fell out of the CCG industry due to a bloated market. And, additionally, the Decipher RPG wasn't very good at all.

Not news. I have parts of every game on that list. I have near complete FASA and LUG Trek collections.

Same here. The point I was trying to make is that the games getting shuffled between companies isn't the fault of the source material or disinterest; it's because of the business aspect.

Going trough Edge of the Empire more and more, I keep liking what I'm seeing in the game. The Force powers are very well done indeed, allowing you to customize things like range, magnitude, and effects. Also, lightsabers are *extremely* deadly, as they should be. Average 1 hit kills and even if you don't chances are very good the target's now missing a vital appendage. Also, rules for cutting through materials and weapons. Right now, this is system is going to have the best depiction of Jedi of any of the RPG's and even some of the computer games. And I say this as a fan of the WEG game and the Old Republic games

Part in what I was saying., Both Trek and Wars have a parent company that will jerk you around. I still think Paramount are bigger jerks than Lucas Arts.

I still contend that for tabletop play Wars has a better setup. Any idea can be played out in Star Wars. Mind you I'm a life time Trekkie. But the Starship hierarchical thing means you have the Captain and "everybody else". Mind you I've had an on line Trek game running with a friend since 97.

But Ghodd's truth. Any scenario you can think of can be framed into Star Wars.

Garry AKA --Phoenix-- Rising above the Flames. My favorite game console is a table and chairs. The Olde Phoenix Inn

Same here. The point I was trying to make is that the games getting shuffled between companies isn't the fault of the source material or disinterest; it's because of the business aspect.

Going trough Edge of the Empire more and more, I keep liking what I'm seeing in the game. The Force powers are very well done indeed, allowing you to customize things like range, magnitude, and effects. Also, lightsabers are *extremely* deadly, as they should be. Average 1 hit kills and even if you don't chances are very good the target's now missing a vital appendage. Also, rules for cutting through materials and weapons. Right now, this is system is going to have the best depiction of Jedi of any of the RPG's and even some of the computer games. And I say this as a fan of the WEG game and the Old Republic games

This sounds quite interesting indeed. I am hoping to have my copy within the week.

"I'm afraid it is you who are mistaken. About a great, many things."

"It is not the rules that make or break a game, it's the GM and the players."

Have any of you had a chance to play yet? I might be running a game later tonight, or next week, so I guess I'll post about it then if no one else has. I've put all the errata into the book, so it should be much like the final product, I'm hoping it's as great as it sounds.

Part in what I was saying., Both Trek and Wars have a parent company that will jerk you around. I still think Paramount are bigger jerks than Lucas Arts.

I still contend that for tabletop play Wars has a better setup. Any idea can be played out in Star Wars. Mind you I'm a life time Trekkie. But the Starship hierarchical thing means you have the Captain and "everybody else". Mind you I've had an on line Trek game running with a friend since 97.

But Ghodd's truth. Any scenario you can think of can be framed into Star Wars.

I've fallen in love with the game mechanics (though I have yet to play in them). I think I like the game system more than the Star Wars setting currently. Not that I'm against SW, its just that this dice mechanics are so cool- in theory.

I'm curious to how well they'll take to very young players. Like 5 years old, etc.

I've been wanting to try Edge of the Empire...have not played a Star Wars RPG before (mostly AD&D in the Forgotten Realms). Anyone interested in getting together to try? I am in North Vancouver and can travel (if anyone from Vancouver, Canada is reading this, obviously!).

On another note...and not a 'RPG' per se - I've picked up a copy of the Star Wars Living Card Game from Fantasy Flight and am really enjoying it. Looking forward to talking to others who might be interested in playing as well.